State and capital accumulation in Brazilian health from the perspective of the Marxist Dependency Theory

Abstract

The health sector is one of the major fields of economic, social, scientific, and technological development in Brazil, and has been the arena of dispute between capitalist interests that regard health as a commodity and advocates of universal access who regard health as an essential good. The Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 determined that health is a fundamental right and the State's responsibility, and since then the country has made progress with public policy, but has suffered setbacks and blockages due to its status as a peripheric country, historically subordinated to the interests of core countries, which see Brazil as a broad consumer market. These external interests associated with the internal bourgeoisie have been taking advantage of the Brazilian State since the 1960s, when the foundation of business groups expanded, dominating various health segments, especially since the neoliberal policies of the 1990s. These aspects are much explored in publications in Public Health, but this text seeks a new approach, using the Marxist Theory of Dependency as a reference to analyze, albeit in a preliminary way, the situation of political, economic, and technological dependence that has distanced health policy from the ideals of a public and universal system, defended in the Brazilian Health Reform.